GAME INFORMATION
GAME #10: Cornell at Penn
DATE: Friday, Oct. 2, 2009
TIME: 7 p.m.
SITE: Philadelphia, Pa. - Rhodes Field (1,000)
2009 RECORDS: Cornell - 1-7-1 (0-1-0 Ivy League); Penn - 4-2-2 (0-1-0 Ivy League)
SERIES RECORD: Penn leads, 11-6-1
LAST MEETING: Penn won, 6-0, on Oct. 4, 2008, in Ithaca, N.Y.
LIVE STATS: http://pennathletics.com

The Ivy League season continues for the Cornell women's soccer team as the Big Red travels to Philadelphia for a 7 p.m. contest on Friday against Penn. Both teams will be seeking their first league victory of the 2009 season.

HEAD COACH DANIELLE LAROCHE
Danielle LaRoche is in her third season directing the Cornell women's soccer program. The fourth coach in Cornell women's soccer history, LaRoche picked up her first collegiate head coaching victory on Sept. 7, 2007, when the Big Red knocked off Hartford, 1-0, in double overtime in Ithaca, N.Y. She has a career coaching mark of 7-31-2. Prior to her arrival at Cornell, LaRoche had stops as an assistant coach at George Mason, Binghamton and Howard. A 1995 graduate of Maryland, LaRoche played two seasons for the Terrapins under April Heinrichs, who would later go on to serve as the head coach of the U.S. Women's National Team. LaRoche is assisted by Elke Reisdorph, in her first season with the Big Red.

ABOUT THE BIG RED
Cornell dropped a pair of games last week, falling in the Ivy League opener to Columbia, 1-0, on Sept. 25, before dropping the non-league finale on Sunday against Bucknell, 4-2. Freshmen Hannah Labadie and Maneesha Chitanvis scored the two goals for the Big Red in the loss to the Bison, moving both of them into a tie with sophomore Sidra Bonner for the team lead in goals (two each) and points (four each). In goal, Kelly Murphy has seen the majority of time, posting a 1.42 goals-against average and a .711 save percentage with two shutouts. 

ABOUT PENN
The Quakers enter the weekend with a 4-2-2 mark overall but are 0-1 in the Ivy League after dropping a 3-2 decision last weekend to Harvard. Jessica Fuccello leads the Quaker offense with 10 goals for 20 points, the only Penn player in double figures in scoring. The Quakers have been strong offensively this season, having scored 19 goals in eight games and being shut out only once in a scoreless tie against St. Joseph's. In goal, Caroline Williams has played every minute for Penn, posting a 1.40 goals against average and a .760 save percentage with a pair of shutouts.

THE SERIES WITH PENN
The Quakers lead the all-time series against the Big Red, 11-6-1, and have won 10 meetings. Cornell last gained a result against the Quakers on Sept. 26, 1998 in a scoreless tie in Ithaca, and last won on Nov. 7, 1996, a 1-0 victory in Ithaca. Last season, Penn scored a 6-0 victory over the Big Red in Ithaca.

IVY OPENERS
Cornell dropped its Ivy League opener last weekend against Columbia, 1-0. The Big Red is now 15-11-1 all-time in conference openers.

ROOKIE OF THE WEEK
Freshman Maneesha Chitanvis earned Ivy League Rookie of the Week honors on Sept. 21 after her play during the week of Sept. 14-20. Chitanvis scored her first career goal on Sept. 16 against Colgate in a 2-0 victory, then earned a spot on the George Mason Tournament All-Tournament Team with her play against William & Mary and the host Patrots.

EVEN-STEVEN
Cornell's win against Colgate on Sept. 16 knotted the all-time series against the Raiders, 14-14-3. The win was also the first for head coach Danielle LaRoche over the Central New York rivals.

A LOOK TO THE FUTURE
A quick glance at the scoring column for the Big Red this season shows a reason to be optimistic about this season the the future. Of the six players who have recorded a point this year, all six are either a freshman or a sophomore.

INTO THE SCORING COLUMN
Sophomore Sidra Bonner scored her first career goal in the Big Red's loss to Niagara on Sept. 6, adding to the one assist she recorded last season. Classmate Samantha Wright tallied an assist on Bonner's goal for her first career point.

NO GOALS
When Cornell opened with a scoreless tie against Binghamton on Sept. 4, it marked the first time Cornell had posted a shutout in the season opener since a 2-0 win over St. Bonaventure in 2005. The scoreless tie to begin the season was the first since the 2004 season when Cornell drew with Stony Brook.

FOR STARTERS
Cornell has had great success in the 27 season openers in the program's history, picking up a 16-7-4 mark in the first game of the season. The Big Red is 1-1-1 in season openers under Danielle LaRoche, losing the first game of her tenure with the Big Red at Hofstra in 2007, but scoring a win over Oakland last year in Rochester, N.Y., and tying this year's opener against Binghamton.

CLIMBING THE CHARTS
Junior Lena Russomagno is quietly approaching the all-time top 10 in several offensive categories and could crack several career lists with a strong season in 2009. Russomagno enters the season with eight goals and seven assists for 23 points and is seven goals, four assists and 17 points shy of reaching the top 10 in each of those categories. Russomagno is capable of posting those types of numbers, as she tallied six goals as a freshman and five assists last season, with the five assists coming just shy of tying the all-time mark in a single season.

NATIONAL APPEAL
When Danielle LaRoche explains the recruiting efforts to bring together the 2009 team as searching far and wide, she's not kidding. The Big Red has 16 states and one Canadian province represented on the 2009 roster, with no state having more than three players who call that location home. California and Virginia both have three players on the Cornell roster, while Florida, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey and Ohio each have two representatives. Other states claiming an interest in the Big Red roster are Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Mexico, New York and Texas.

UP NEXT
The Big Red returns to Berman Field to face Harvard in a 4:30 p.m. match on Saturday, Oct. 10.